Nanashi nodded slightly when she said that he had a strange name. "...I know." He said simply. He wanted to say that hers sounded a bit strange to him, but he of course wouldn't say that to her....partially because he didn't want to do anything to put him on her bad side at all. After that he walked in complete silence, his feet and tail dragging through the grass the only noise that came from him. The closer they got to the festival the more fidgety he became.

He looked ahead finally, his eyes wandering over the area. There was a sort of large wooden wall traveling in a large circle around the area. Nanashi half wondered where they had gotten all of the wood for it, but that was a bit beside the point since it was there. Inside, he could hear rather lively music playing and several voices. There were other noses as well, it sounded like a lot of games being played. He swallowed hard and looked over to LaRae again, shaking his head slightly. "...No." he said honestly but he looked inside the gate again and slowly started to edge forward. Again he crossed his arms over his chest as if that was going to shield him from whatever was going to happen inside. He kept his eyes down as he walked as if that was going to keep anyone from noticing him. It was hard to enjoy things when you were constantly staring at the ground but that was how he operated.

LaRae having passed through the gate looked around at everything that was going on; She was nearly awe struck. There were numerous dragons all over the place and to no surprise half of them stayed around only their clans. She shook her head softly, she knew that dragons couldn't put aside their differences for one day a year; She had hoped they could though. The few dragons that were with others not of their clan were with dragons that they had alliances with, no surprise there. Her gaze continued to survey the area looking at all the activities set out. Nothing grabbed her attention, at least not yet. She turned around to look at the young man she talked into coming with her. She noticed right away that he wasn't looking at anything that was going on around them; He was staring at the ground below his feet. She sighed and walked up to him, her tail swaying behind her. "Are you going to stare at the ground all day?" She paused "You can look up... ya' know" She wasn't trying to be rude or anything and she didn't really understand him but she knew one couldn't enjoy themselves if all they looked at was the ground.

Nanashi just stood there for a moment before slowly raising his head and letting his eyes wander around the area. He swallowed again at the sight of all of the dragons and for a moment looked as if he was ready to turn tail and bolt back out of the gate and keep running, but he took a deep breath and forced himself to lower his hands to his sides again. He was still nervous, that was a given, but he was clearly trying to at least act as if he wasn't. After a moment of surveying the area, his eyes wandered back to LaRae and he nodded slightly.

He turned his head slightly to look around a bit more. The center of the area was fairly open with beaten walking paths, and around the open area were several wooden houses that looked almost more like shacks. There were not enough of them for even all of the Thunder clan members to have their own house, so he assumed that apparently they had scattered around their territory. Nanashi honestly didn't understand how these clans operated, so he just drew his assumptions based on what he saw. This was his first time even venturing into the Thunder territory.

After another quick glance to LaRae he started to move away from the gate, however reluctantly. He kept quiet but now that they were inside and around all of these others he did seem to gravitate closer to her side, closing in that usual gap that he tried to keep. He half wondered how long this thing was and how long people were going to be here. Soon after they took a few more steps they were stopped by a lively young woman, who Nanashi assumed must have been from the Thunder clan, judging by the deep amethyst scales and electric blue eyes. She smiled readily enough at them, though it seemed to waver a bit after she looked the two of them over, especially Nanashi with his dusty appearance.

"Hello," she said in a friendly enough tone, her eyes going back to LeRae, "I don't recall meeting you around before. Welcome to the festival." She reached down into a small basket that she was carrying as she spoke. "We have a fun little tradition here around now where the girls get to let the guys know they're liked." With that she finally pulled out a pink rose with a pin stuck through the back to help attach it to one's clothes, though she seemed to have almost absently picked up the mist mangled rose near the bottom of the pile. "It's a bit self explanatory." she said as she motioned with he hand toward the crowd. There were several dragon males walking around with roses pinned to their shirts like corsages, and occasionally there was one or two that apparently had more than one admirer.

Nanashi blinked and the woman and tilted his head, glancing around the area. How strange...

LaRae's attention was easily taken hold of when the woman walked up to them. She looked the woman up and down, it was obvious what clan she was from. It would seem strange to have any clan other then the Thunder Clan walking around doing her job. She took the damaged rose when it was handed to her and spun it around in her fingers by it's stem. She knew pretty well why she was given the worst rose from the bottom of the basket and just sighed. She looked the rose over while the girl finished speaking. Her finger tips started to glow an earthy shade of green while still holding onto the stem of the rose. She focused energy into her fingers and up through the stem; The rose then seemed to come back to life. Every last petal fell from the base of the stem and then a new bud appeared in it's place. Focusing just a little more energy she caused the bud to blossom forth in one of the most beautiful crimson red roses she'd ever laid eyes on. She smiled softly "That's much better" She stated pleased, as if she had gotten the woman back for the damaged rose. She turned to face Nanashi and took the rose and pinned it to his white overcoat. She stepped back and smiled softly "Now it looks better with your hair, pink just wouldn't look nice on you"

She turned back to the woman who had given her the rose with a nearly evil smirk on her face. She didn't appreciate someone insulting them, she would have preferred the woman saying it to her face rather then trying to hide the fact over pseudo kindness. LaRae's finger tips began to glow once again, though this time her focus was on the basket the woman held in her hand. Every single last stem in the basket was now glowing the same color as her finger tips; Then without much notice the stems grew in length and shot down though the basket and plummeted into the ground. The basket was now stuck woven into the stems of the roses; The roses now stuck into the ground. The color from her fingers slowly faded away and she turned back to Nanashi laughing softly "Would ya' look at that.... Looks like she'll need to get another basket of flowers"

The young woman stared at the rose as it changed, awestruck by the transformation. She gathered that apparently she had been mistaken about the girl at least since she was able to do that with the rose. "Wow..." she muttered as she stared at it. She seemed even more surprised when she turned to the dragon half and stuck it to his shirt.

Nanashi seemed surprised by that as well. He had been listening to what the dragoness was saying but his eyes were still wandering across the area. He startled when LaRae touched his shirt and nearly jumped away from her. He blinked at the beautiful red rose as she pinned it to his shirt and then looked down at it with a shocked and bemused expression. Why would she be giving it to him of all people? "I..." He wasn't even entirely sure what to say. He slowly raised his hand, letting it hover a couple of inches over the rose as if he wanted to touch it but was afraid it would break if he did. After a moment he lowered his hand again and shyly looked back up to LaRae. "Th-thank you..." he said quietly.

He blinked and looked over when he heard some very disgruntled noises coming from the Thunder dragon. He stared at the stems that were going into the ground and then looked at LaRae just in time to see the glow fading from her fingertips. His ears laid back a little at her comment and he glanced back to the other young woman again. "...Yeah." he said quietly, though he didn't seem too pleased. He thought it was a little amusing, but he didn't show any signs of that. "...That...really wasn't necessary..." he said quietly, his voice barely audible over the background noise. He definitely wasn't the kind to retaliate against people... at least most of the time.


The young woman growled as she tried to save the basket, but she gave up eventually. She gave LaRae a dirty look and then walked off. Luckily...she did have other baskets for when she ran out. She'd just have to make sure to keep them away from her.

LaRae by now was chuckling as the woman walked off; She rather enjoyed the reaction she got from her. She stepped over to the basket and set her hand on top of it momentarily. The stems of the roses fell to the ground as dust; The basket followed and sat on the ground with nothing in it but rose petals. LaRae wasn't going to leave the basket sit the way it was, it would be all too clear an Earth Dragon was causing a little trouble. She smiled softly looking down at the basket just before turning around and looking at Nanashi having remembered hearing him say something about what she did not being necessary. "She was insulting us, I refuse to let any one do that... Here of all places" She walked away from the basket; closer to Nanashi but now looking around at all the games. "..." She finally spotted one that looked like fun. "We should go play some of the games, I see one I think might be fun" She stated moving to Nanashi and grabbing hold of his hand. She'd pull him over to the booth with her, otherwise she felt he might just stand in place and not move at all.

She had walked over to a relatively good sized booth that had a simple game to play. The back wall of the booth was full of different sized balloons of nearly every color. The object of the game was to throw darts and pop the balloons. Each size balloon had an equivalent number; small earned two points, medium earned four and large of course earned six. The higher the number you made the bigger the prize you could earn. LaRae smiled a little watching some other people play the game, it seemed easy enough and she thought she might be good at it. "How about this one Nanashi?" She asked slightly excited; Her tail swaying from side to side without even noticing.

Nanashi shook his head slightly at LaRae's explanation of why she acted the way she did. "...That is just the way people are." he said simply. He seemed to accept that well enough and had apparently given up on combating it. He glanced off again until she grabbed his hand and pulled his forward, 'gasping quietly when she pulled him forward, more from surprise than fear. He wasn't used to being touched...well not that gently.

His eyes wandered around for a few moments as he was led over to the games. He noticed quite a few surprised and disapproving stares from some others when they noticed the two of them. Apparently they thought that, as Nanashi had said before, he had no business there. He didn't realize that many of them were looking at LaRae the same way. He thought that they could tell easily that she was a dragon like they were. He just let his eyes find the ground again as she pulled him along, only looking up when she stopped.

He eyed the game that she pointed out and tilted his head. "...I...How do you play?" he asked as he stared at the balloons. He glanced over, watching a few people tossing darts at the balloons and flinching when he heard one pop. He guessed that kind of answered his question. "...Never mind." he said quietly after that. He glanced at the person running the booth who was eying them oddly, but still trying to keep a look of 'I don't care who you are, feel free to play' on his face.

LaRae happened to glance up and see a sign stating that you needed tickets to play. Of course she wanted to, but now she'd have to go and hunt down the booth that sold tickets. She sighed softly and turned to Nanashi "Hey, I've got to go get some tickets before we can play any of these games" She paused "So... wait here and I'll be right back" Before he could say anything to her about it she had already walked off in search of the ticket booth. She was easily lost in the flow of people and wasn't paying attention to any of them that were staring at her; She knew other dragons would stare but she didn't really care. She would put them in their place should anyone think to stop and say something to her. After searching for a few moments she spotted the booth not too far from the main gate. All she thought was 'Of course that's where it is... As soon as you walk in' She hurried over and got in line, it was short and became even shorter when she walked up. Half of the dragons in line stepped aside and walked off. She was pretty sure she knew why but took it as a good thing, she smiled and walked up to the booth. She brushed her hair behind her ear as she looked up at the male Thunder dragon behind the glass of the small box.

The man in the booth sighed when he saw her walk up and looked away when she looked at him. He leaned on the small ledge inside the booth holding his head up with his hand. He was trying to ignore her, but she kept staring at him; Apparently she wasn't getting the clue that he didn't want to give her tickets. Seeing as she wasn't leaving he sighed again and his gaze lazily shifted over to her "...What'd ya want?" He asked in less then interested tone.

She looked at him dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that he asked her that. Her tail shot to the ground straight making a cracking noise much like a whip. She was angered at the fact he was treating her this way because she looked like a half breed. Whereas he was really nice and upbeat to all the full breeds before they left. "Are you an idiot?" She asked glaring at the man behind the glass; Thinking he was lucky he was back there. "I want tickets of course" She muttered as she reached into her pocket, removing some Gil and setting it down on the ledge just in front of the opening in the glass.

The man looked away from her again, until he heard the idiot remark. He stared at her slightly angered himself but tried to stay calm; After all he was in a small box. He looked at her put the money on the ledge and placed his hand on the roll of tickets, protectively. "Give me one good reason why I should even give someone like you tickets" He was blunt and not afraid of the repercussions.

LaRae's tail cracked like a whip again as she got closer to the glass booth. She lifted up her hand and pushed her bangs up so that the annoying man behind the glass could see her small horns. She growled; Wanting to harm the guy but simply showed her horns instead. "Is that a good enough reason?!" She spat watching the guy fumble with the tickets in his hands. He had reached through the hole in the glass and taken the Gil replacing it with tickets. He didn't say anything to her, just looked really embarrassed. She picked up the tickets and put them in her pocket "You really shouldn't judge a me by how I look..." She muttered turning away from the booth and starting to head back to where she left Nanashi.

Nanashi's eyes widened slightly when LaRae told him to wait there. "Wait!" he said quickly but by the time he found his voice she was already out of ear shot. Soon he couldn't even find her in the crowd anymore. He stood there stiffly, staring off into the crowd as he watched for LaRae to come back. A few moments later he was nearly knocked over by a tall dragon with shoulder length black hair and piercing red eyes. His tail and wings were jet black but his skin was fairly pale. It wasn't hard to determine which clan he was from. There were a good three roses pinned to his shirt as well, so apparently, whoever he was he was well liked by the ladies.

"Watch where you're going!" he snapped at the dragon half after brushing himself off.

Nanashi stumbled back a couple of steps and then looked back to him, though he did not make eye contact. "You were the one who walked into me..." he said so quietly that he was barely audible. Immediately, he regretted saying anything.

The dragon snarled and narrowed his eyes at him before reaching out to grab his shirt. "What was that, halfbreed?" He asked, grinning when he didn't get a response from him. "I didn't think so. You've got a lot of nerve talking back to me, pipsqueak." his eyes flickered down to the rose on Nanashi's chest, "Aw is that it? Think you have a right to be here because someone felt sorry enough for you to give you a flower?" He gave Nanashi a shove and then grabbed the rose, ripping it off of his coat and tossing it to the ground after grinding most of the petals off with his fingers.

Nanashi stumbled back again when he was shoved and gasped when he threw the rose away. "Hey!" he said, narrowing his eyes angrily in spite of himself. He didn't want LaRae to think that he threw her gift away when she came back. "What was that for!? I ha--"

"Well what are you going to do about it?" the dragon cut him off, grabbing his shirt again and this time throwing him to the ground. "Hmm!?" The toe of his boot connected hard with Nanashi's side and he just smirked at the high pitched yip that he received in response. "That's what I thought."

Nanashi bounced slightly on the ground when he was thrown down. He was just starting to get up when he felt the sharp pain in his side and he yipped and rolled over, gasping for the air that had just been knocked out of him. He just lay there on his side, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for this to be over with. There was a big of a crowd of onlookers gathering, some seemed a bit disapproving in their mutters, but most seemed to be enjoying the show.

LaRae had been on her way back to Nanashi when she noticed the growing crowd, it appeared to be around where she had left him and when she realized that she had begun pushing her way through the other dragons until she was able to see what was going on. She had to have come at just the end of it because she saw Nanashi laying on the ground, her rose destroyed and then a Dark Clan Dragon. Without even thinking about it she was already angry and dropped to one knee, thrusting her fingers into the ground below her. Her growl very low but the dragons around her would pick up on it. Her whole arm began to glow the same green as before; She was using way more energy then before and it emanated around her body slightly. Her golden eyes shot up from the ground just as thick tree roots burst forth from the ground below the dark dragons feet. They moved quickly, not giving enough time for the male to move; They bound themselves around his body, intertwining all the way up to his shoulders and clasping his wings tightly to his body. He wouldn't be able to move easily, and might even need someone's help to get him down.

She stood up slowly pulling her hand from the ground the glow fading as soon as her claws slid out of the dirt. She then walked over to the now bound dragon and glaring at him after she picked up the stem of her rose. She held it in her fingers much like before and managed to pour what little energy she had left into the stem forcing another bud to blossom again into the same color red rose as before. She smirked looking up at him again "Don't ever crush my rose again" She muttered angrily at him as she then set the rose in her hair; Until she could put it back on Nanashi. She turned away from the dark dragon and knelt down next to Nanashi, placing a hand to his shoulder softly. She glared back up at the bound male and growled louder then she intended "Arienh save you should he be hurt..." She spat under her breath as she shifted her gaze back to Nanashi. "...Are you alright?"

The black dragon was taken completely by surprise when the roots wrapped around him. "H-hey!!" he snarled at LaRae and tried to squirm out of the trap. He glared daggers at her and growled lowly when she threatened him. He looked as if he could rip her open if he could figure out how to get out of this.

Nanashi kept his eyes closed tightly as he heard the commotion. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on but he was half afraid to look. He flinched violently when LaRae touched his shoulder and tried to curl up a little more. When he registered her voice he slowly opened his watery eyes and looked at her. "...Y..yes...." he whispered in a quiet, near breathless voice. He slowly started to push himself up again, wincing when he bent his side. He wrapped his arm around his middle, holding his side tightly. "...I..I am alright." he said without looking at her or anyone else. He was fairly used to things like this, so he couldn't complain. He got off fairly easy this time. At least it was only a bruise and some scrapes. He felt a burning sensation on his cheek and raised his hand to feel the grit-filled scrape that ran over his high cheekbone. He winced again and pulled his fingers back, noticing a few drops of blood on his fingertips. He guessed he'd scraped his cheek when he hit the ground.

She for the moment completely ignored the dark male and the others around them. She watched Nanashi in a little pain as he sat up and shook her head softly when she saw the blood from his scrape. She smiled to him and pulled down the rose from her hair "I fixed this for you" She stated in a soft tone as she reached over, dusted his shirt off a little and re-pinned it on him. "Just give me a minute and we'll move on with the day alright?" She smiled sweetly and stood up dusting herself off. She was out of energy to use her special magic but she wouldn't need that to deal with the dark dragon. She turned around, facing the bound dragon. Her golden eyes full of anger and hatred which was strange considering how nice she was just being to Nanashi. It was like a switch went off and she was bitch again.

She lifted up her hand and her claws extended a bit as she cracked her hand. "I told you..." She paused, her voice deeper then before, followed by a low growl. "...He better not be hurt!" She spat walking closer to the dragon. She must have appeared short next to him but that was only because the tree roots had lifted him up off the ground about two feet. She reached up and took hold of one of the roots and proceeded to climb up to his face level so she could stare him in the eye. She preferred to only use her wings when she needed to, which again must have seemed strange considering she had climbed up. She hissed when she looked at the man in the eyes; Her tail thrashing about. She lifted her hand up, claws still extended; Pulled her arm back and then let it go thrusting her claws across the dragons face leaving large cuts that would end up being scars once they were healed. She pulled her hand back, her claws had his blood on them. She would've hit the other side of his face too but she was using the other hand to hold herself up on the tree roots. She went ahead and thrust her claws across his face again, leaving twice as many cuts. She growled with a smirk on her face "Lets see how many ladies like you after those heal!"

Nanashi looked at LaRae again when she pinned the rose back to his shirt. "...Thank you." he whispered quietly, his ears laying back slightly in a pitiful manner. He looked so embarrassed at the moment. His coppery cheeks looked a bit red. He hated being the center of attention and this wasn't really helping all that much. When LaRae turned around to confront the other dragon he just sat there was watched, expecting that she was only going to yell at him or something. When he saw her go at him with her claws his eyes widened. He started to get up quickly, ignoring the dirt that covered him. "L-LaRae!" he called, though his voice was quiet and it seemed that she was a little too pissed to listen. He winced when he saw her claw the guy's face and shuddered slightly. When she struck him again he finally forced his voice out louder, "That's enough!!" he called to her. The guy hadn't hurt him that badly.

His ears laid back again as he heard pained yells coming from the dragon, along with quire a few curses. He almost felt sorry for him after that. He was grateful that LaRae was trying to take up for him, but to him that seemed to be taking it too far. He was almost afraid to say much else to her right now considering how mad she was.

LaRae stopped almost immediately after she heard Nanashi tell her that was enough. Her claws retracted, but she still clung to the tree roots. Her eyes went soft again and she turned slightly to look at Nanashi. She wanted to apologize but she couldn't, not for anything she had done. What this dragon did to Nanashi was unfair and cruel; She felt the need to get back at the dragon for what he did.

There was another Dark Clan Dragon that stood amongst the crowd of people, he watched from a distance for awhile. He was tall with short black hair that appeared to be wet by the way it fell around his face. His dark purple eyes were cold, and lifeless at first glance and he wore an expressionless face. His skin was pale, with a creamy hue to it, he wore nothing more then black fatigue style pants, boots and a tight black tank that showed off his arms; They were quite muscular and something to behold. He had a pitch black scale covered tail, it appeared to be feathered at the end but it was really a mane-style fur. His Wings were solid black much like his tail, they folded behind his back and were on the larger side with silver hooks at the top. Adorned at the top of his head were two average sized ivory horns, perhaps the only white on his whole body.

He had a smirk on his face, for only a second as he watched what had happened to his fellow dragon. The expression faded quickly and just as the girl was putting her claws away the male had moved closer, filtering out of the crowd. His tail swayed from side to side with such force that it created a small gust. He walked up to her, without her really noticing she was apparently too focused on the younger man who told her stop. His mistake. He reached up his own claws extended momentarily and grabbed the girl from her throat and pulled her away from his clan member. He growled low, as he set his claws into her skin and then thrust her into the booth next to him. Her body flew backwards smacking into the wall of balloons and then slid down to the ground. She didn't move right away.

He cracked his fingers a few times as his claws retracted then placed his other hand on the tree roots. A dark aura formed around them and they seemed to turn to mud and then dripped down to the ground. Once the other male was free, he put his hand on the guys back and shoved him into a group of Dark Dragons. His expression had not changed at all during any of this and his face, his eyes, they still looked cold. He turned to the other dark dragons "...Get him looked at..." He muttered and they quickly responded "Of course Nero!" He sighed and started to walk off, quite bored with the festival now. He quickly disappeared into the flood of people that started to leave the area and go back to what they were previously doing.

LaRae still had not moved yet, but finally forced herself up. She sat up and coughed a bit as she placed a hand to her throat. "ugnn..." She was quite dizzy and her back was a bit sore.

Nanashi just looked up at LaRae with those wide ruby eyes that were still a bit wet looking. He didn't notice the other man until he'd gotten up to LaRae, and then he'd grabbed her before he had time to warn her to look out. He started to move forward when the man grabbed her, or at least would have if he could make his feet move. He was frozen to the spot, staring as the man held her off of the ground by the neck. "P-put her down!" he called just before she was thrown into the booth. His eyes followed her quickly and his breath caught when she didn't move. He looked back toward the other man, watching as the roots seemed to melt. He still couldn't move, though he looked angry at the man. She'd already stopped attacking the guy, he didn't need to throw her like that.

As 'Nero' finally walked away, Nanashi finally got the lead out of his feet and looked back to LaRae. He dashed over to the booth and knelt down beside her quickly. He started to reach for her, then started to pull back and then reached again ad if he couldn't make up his mind on whether or not it was safe to touch her. His hands here shaking so badly that he couldn't hold them steady no matter how hard he tried. Even after he finally laid his hand on LaRae's shoulder, his hand was probably making it vibrate a little. He looked scared half to death and half ready to cry. "A-are you alright?" he stammered quietly, looking at her with concern. He raised his fingers to her neck and gently touched it, trying to see how badly she'd been clawed. "I...I'm sorry I... I wanted to...I..." he was trying to say that he'd wanted to help, but he could barely even get the sentence straight without tripping over his tongue. He just laid his ears back again and looked at her, apparently waiting to hear an answer to his question.

LaRae struggled when she sat up, and rested her back against the booth. Though winced when she pressed herself back. She touched her neck gently for a few moments before letting her hand drop to her side. Surprisingly enough that hurt like hell, and must have looked like it too. She didn't think that man had thrown her that hard, but apparently he had; Or was it the darts still left in the wooded backing for the balloon that made it hurt more? She coughed again before opening her eyes. They were watery from the sharp pain she had felt. She clenched her teeth together tightly thinking about how that man seemed to appear out of no where, she had not seen him coming and with what appeared to be little effort he had disposed of her for lack of better words.

She finally noticed Nanashi was next to her, she was surprised he was able to even move. She swallowed hard and went to speak "I'll be fine" She stated simply, her voice a little raspy from the claws that were at her neck a moment ago. "...You're okay though, right?" She asked ignoring the fact that she was hurt and focused more on him. "...I'm sorry..." She paused, clearing her throat. "I didn't mean to upset you..." Of course she referred to him telling her to stop before.

The man who ran the booth was infuriated and growled seeing the two just sitting there... talking. His booth was ruined and he'd have to fix it before it could be used again. He smacked his fist against the wooden back wall "Both of you, get the hell out of my booth you trouble makers!" He stared down at them "Thanks to you I have a lot more work to do now"

Nanashi just watched her with that worried expression. His side did still hurt, but he didn't complain. He by no means enjoyed pain but he'd learned to deal with it fairly well. He just had to ignore it. "Yes, I'm fine." he told her again. He cringed when the boot owner yelled at them and looked at him with the expression of a dog that had just gotten scolded. He looked back to LaRae again and reached out to take her hands. "Come on." he said softly, gently trying to pull her up. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he got her up and stood with her, though if she told him to he would let go of her immediately. He was just trying to move out of this guy's way before he got too cranky and started throwing things at them.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked quietly. He started looking around again, trying to pick out a good spot where there weren't many people for them to go and recover for a few minutes. He noticed a place near the gate that seemed fairly barren as far as people and attractions went, so he tried to steer her in that general direction.

She winced much like before, when he helped her to her feet; She was more surprised then anything that he was even helping her to a safer place. When he re-asked his question she chuckled softly thinking he must not have been listening to her. "I told you already..." She paused trying to smile "I'll be fine" Once they made it to the spot that he had seen, free of everything else around them she pulled away from him gently and let herself drop to the ground. She fell on her knees and arched her back, her wings stretched out and then fell around her body much like a cape which revealed a half dozen darts stuck in her back. They varied in depth and space apart, lining from as high up as her shoulder blades and as low as just above her tail. She could barely feel a few of them because of how deep they had been lodged into her back. Her tail swayed about near her back for a few moments as if trying to smack the darts away but failed and then lay limp on the ground.

She then let her head drop down too, she stared at the ground below her as the hooks to her wings pulled close to one another covering over the top of her head. All that would be able to be seen of her now was her back, and some of her hair. She was trying to hide the fact that she was hurt a little more then she previous thought and the best way to do that was to cover herself with her wings.

Nanashi watched as she pulled away from him and sank to her knees and he slowly sat down beside her, sitting with his hands clasped firmly in his lap. He let her get situated, watching her wings as they fell around her and then crossed over her head. He tried to see her face for a moment and then glanced to her back. He gasped when he saw the darts sticking out of her back, and almost panicked again. "LaRae..." he scooted around little, gently placing his warm fingertips on her back where she wasn't hurt. He looked at the darts and then carefully reached out toward one of the ones that wasn't stuck in too far. "...H-hold still..." he said softly before taking a hold of it and pulling it straight out. He cringed in the process, freezing as he waited, almost as if he expected her the smack him for that. He looked at her back again as blood ran from the hole that the dart had left and he swallowed, trying not to let the color drain from his face. He hated blood...


"I'm sorry." He whispered quietly after a moment as he laid the dart aside. "...I shouldn't have come with you... This wouldn't have happened..." he said softly as he started to try to pick another dart that wasn't in too deep.

LaRae shivered when he touched her back, again not expecting it. She didn't think he'd help her with the darts she had thought she'd wait until her energy came back and then make tree roots pull them out. This though, was nicer for some reason. She had wrapped her hands around her arms and held tightly. Then bit her lip hard as soon as he said hold still. She didn't make too much noise when he pulled the first dart out of her back, only a muffled hiss of a sound. She wasn't sure what hurt more, the darts on impact or on the way out. She'd probably be able to answer that question better once he moved to a deeper dart and she could only hope that none of them had nicked her bones; If so, she'd be sore for ages. She took a deep breath letting go of her lip, she had bit it so hard it bled lightly. She hated the taste of her own blood, it had a metal taste to it. She sighed listening to him go on about how he shouldn't have come then cleared her throat. "...At first glance Nanashi... I look like you, to everyone here" She paused "Eventually, with or without you... I would've gotten into a fight. It's inevitable" She finished and bit her lip again preparing for the removal of the next dart.

Nanashi looked at her with slight surprise when she told him that. "...How?" he asked as if he couldn't believe that a dragon couldn't tell one of their own kind. He never really know what set him apart from them. He realized that he didn't have horns like they did, but he thought they could someone sense that he wasn't able to take on a dragon from like they could, or something to that effect.

He took a hold on the second dart and pulled it out carefully, tossing it down by the other one and tried to ignore the blood. The process was near sickening, but he just kept his mouth shut and listened to whatever LaRae had to say before going for the third dart, and then the fourth, fifth and finally the sixth, which proved to apparently be the deepest because it didn't really want to come out. The end had broken as well so he had a bit of trouble gripping it as he tried to pull it out. His fingers slipped off of it twice as he pulled and every time he apologized like crazy to LaRae knowing that it had to hurt. Finally, he got the bugger pulled out and threw it down. He looked at his hand, his fingers had a little blood on them from that last one, but it wasn't his. He swallowed hard and looked away, "Oh... god..." He muttered before getting up and scurrying away from a few moments. He just stood with his head lowered and the back of his hand over his mouth as he tried to keep from being sick. The idea of having someone else's blood on him didn't sit too well with him.

LaRae continued to make the same sounds for the following three darts; A muffled hiss due to her biting her own lip. She took in a deep breath before he took to the fifth dart and answered his question "...The other dragons can't see my horns Nanashi, they're hidden under my hair" She paused, swallowing hard. "Since they aren't large horns like most of the others, I tend to be treated like a half breed... Not like that's a bad thing" She finished and prepared for the last two darts. The fifth wasn't too painful for her though it did cause her to cry rather then hiss at the pain. Everything only got worse when he started to have trouble with the last dart. It hurt even just to touch it, so every time he'd reach to pull it out she'd cry out; louder and louder until he finally got it out. She threw her hands down in front of her to hold herself up once he finished. The blood on her back was starting to feel cold now that she was starting to get all the feeling back in her back and it sent shivers running down her spine all the way to her tail.

Her wings unhooked themselves and stretched out once more before trying to fold to her back again without hurting her too much. Her face was now red and tear ridden from the pain, she had a small amount of blood on her chin from biting her lip too hard and she was thankful her hair was long enough to hide all of this. Mostly because she was sure she had caused a scene from how loud she cried out on that last dart. She had half focused on Nanashi moving away from her and she lifted her head only enough that she could peek out from the protection of her hair. "Are.." She paused and coughed hard "...Are you alright Nanashi?" She lowered her golden eyes back to the ground. Her arms had grown tired from holding her up, her own body felt like dead weight. She couldn't hold it any longer and her hands collapsed under her. She rested her head to the side, now laying flat on the ground. "...Thank you..." She mumbled in a soft tone.

Nanashi wasn't too sure how being treated like a halfbreed could be a good thing. They clearly weren't treated very well. He guessed that was why she tended to be so nice to him.

When she asked if he was alright he nodded. "Yes... just... I don't like blood." he said quietly. He stood there for a moment longer and then started to turn back around just in time to see her fall to the ground. His eyes widened slightly and he hurried back to her side, kneeling beside her again. His ears were laid back as he gave her that concerned look again. "Are you alright!?" he asked quickly in a quiet voice. There were quite a few people looking at them, but none of them seemed too concerned with what they apparently assumed were a couple of half breeds.

He slowly reached out with his clean hand and gently touched the side of her head, pushing her hair back away from her face. His other hand went to his own busted cheek, rubbing the dried blood with the base of his palm.

A few moments later one person from the crowd finally did approach them. At first all either of them would probably notice considering their position would be the silky end of her baggy white pants legs that looked almost like a dress at first glance and her white soft soled boots. Traveling further up they could see that the legs were attacked to her thighs by cerulean blue bands. Above that was a pair of white shorts with the same blue edge at the bottom of the legs. Her stomach was bare until it got close to her ribs then a shirt made of the same silky material and fitted with the same blue edge outlined her ribcage, going around the back to hang in a point. The top was low cut and came down in a V, connecting together with a shiny broach with a sapphire in the center. The shirt was sleeveless, but her arms were covered by long flowing sleeves connected with a blue band similarly to the legs that she wore. Her hair was long, waist length or better if you knocked the wave out of it, and was a bright white-silver color. Her back was adorned by wings with glimmering white scales with a pale blue leathery interior between the ribs of the wings. Her slender tail was covered in the same scales and tipped with slightly curling silver furs at the tip that matched her hair.

She knelt down beside LaRae and reached out with one almost marble-looking hand that seemed to shimmer slightly in the light along with everything else about her. Her bangs hung down between her shining blue eyes, covering a small blue gem that seemed embedded in her forehead. Her long pointed ears were laid back slightly in concern as she looked over the girl on the ground. Just above her ears were twin horns that were about even length with her ears and seemed almost as if they were made of quarts or diamonds.

"What happened?" she asked softly, her voice light and almost bell-like. "Are you alright?"

LaRae didn't move too much when Nanashi came back over to her she just smiled faintly "I said I'd be fine" Which was the case, she was in a lot of pain still but it was nothing her body couldn't heal from. She was surprised yet again to see him touching her willingly, even if it was only to move her hair. It was such a kind gesture she blushed softly without even realizing it. LaRae started to feel uneasy when she heard another dragon approach, more so when the girl started to concern herself with what happened. Regardless of how pleasant her voice sounded, she started to shift. She had moved her hands under her body and started to push herself up. She winced through the pain and managed to eventually get to her feet with plenty of struggle. She was quite tired from the over exertion and you could tell that by her inability to keep her wings shut behind her. They had fallen out of place when she stood up and draped down, their tips just hitting the ground. She was reluctant to say anything and had backed herself away from the other female dragon. Needless to say LaRae didn't trust her, or any other female dragon for that matter unless they were from her own clan. She couldn't help asking herself why this one would be any different then the others and why did she even care what had happened? She started to get lite headed from all the sudden movement and had backed herself up to the wooden wall that circled the whole area. Without seeing it she had thrust her back against the wall, crying out in pain worse then she had before when Nanashi was removing the darts. Then she started to slip down the wall, her wings dragging down with her body as it hit the ground; Her back left blood stains on the wood as she slid down to a seated position.

Nanashi looked up at the woman for a moment, awestruck by the sight of her. She was so...shiny. He wasn't too sure whether he should move away form her or not, he was a little bedazzled as he looked at her hand and saw it sparkling. He'd never seen someone from the Light clan before. His attention quickly shifted to LaRae when he realized that she was climbing to her feet. "LaRae!" he stood quickly, or at least as quickly as he could with his side still throbbing. He held one hand out toward LaRae, but then realized that she was backing away from the other dragon. He glanced back for a second and then quickly scampered after her as she backed against the wall and skid down. Again, he knelt down beside her and looked up at the wall with a worried expression. "LaRae..."

The silvery dragon tilted her head and blinked, staring after the two of them without moving. After she watched the one slide to the ground again she got up and walked toward them, kneeling down again in front of LaRae. "...I am not going to hurt you..." she said gently, slowly reaching out again and touching her shoulder. "It's alright... I can help you." she offered softly. She glanced up at the blood on the wall, looking fairly concerned. "You are bleeding an awful lot..." she tried to tell her.